1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system storage devices, and more particularly to a system and method for recovery of information stored on a corrupt storage device.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
As information handling systems have proliferated through business and home use, the need to store information generated by the information handling systems has increased. As an example, businesses and homes often seek to back up information stored on information handling system hard disk drives (HDDs) so that stored information remains available in the event of a HDD failure. One common media used to back up stored information is the magnetic tape. Magnetic tapes have the ability to store large quantities of information in a removable media so that the end user can keep backed up information safely distant from the backed-up information handling systems. Industry has cooperated to create a standardized magnetic media storage solution known as the Linear Tape Open (LTO) Tape media so that magnetic tapes and tape drives manufactured by different companies interact properly. For example, LTO Tape media include a Cartridge Memory (CM) that interacts with a tape drive to aid in the use of information stored on the tape, such as for rapid location of data and trouble shooting. Non-volatile memory in the CM, such as flash memory, includes critical parameters in one or more Media Auxiliary Memory (MAM) pages that the tape drive reads and writes during storage operations. An RFID associated with the tape media provides a non-contacting RF interface to communicate information between the CM and the tape drive. The non-volatile memory in the CM also includes additional room to store other information.
One difficulty with LTO Tape media is that a corrupt CM that makes a critical parameter unreadable disables write operations to the tape. When an end user attempts to perform a write operation to a tape with a corrupt CM having unreadable critical data, the tape drive will present an error that the tape is read only. LTO Tape media are expensive, so losing the ability to write to a tape typically results in a frustrating customer experience. For example, end users often rotate through a series of tapes so that at the end of each business day a new back up tape is created that holds the information created for that day. If tape used in the rotation fails, the end user may not be able to back up information for that day until another tape is purchased. The inconvenience of purchasing another tape is minor by comparison if a failure of a storage device subsequently creates a need for a backed up copy of stored information.